Here comes the time of excess. Even though we’ve been seeing holiday displays in shops and ads online and on TV since mid-October, now that Thanksgiving has passed, there will be no sense of restraint. Everything will be about the holidays and all the ways we can spend lots of money on gifts for others, or even ourselves if we are so inclined, gifts most of us don’t need. As a child way back when I remember ou...

When Sasha Tomasek-Little came to the Cape more than five years ago from farm country in Connecticut, she was struck by the ocean and fishermen who build their lives on it.  “It was mind-blowing how hard they work and the brotherhood,” Tomasek-Little said.  The Orleans resident was surprised the industry wasn’t celebrated more. Coming from a marketing and public relations background, it seemed to her there ...

     Chatham-based band Lefty Grove will perform a concert on Saturday, Nov. 26 starting at 6 p.m. to celebrate the release of their latest recording, “Extraterrestrial Anxiety.” The concert will take place at the Brewster VFW Post 9917, located at 989 Freemans Way.      Lefty Grove, which takes its name from a 1930s Boston Red Sox pitcher, is made up of guitarist and singer Pat Reynolds, drummer Paul MacAliste...

     Looking for an opportunity to ring in the holiday season with an evening of unforgettable songs celebrating two of the brightest stars of classic Hollywood and Broadway?      On Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. the Harwich Chamber of Commerce and Raineman Productions will present “Judy and Liza, The Songbook, a Holiday Celebration” featuring Chatham singer Lisa Jason and Broadway star Lucia Giannetta celebrat...

HARWICH – Navigate through the halls of Monomoy Regional High School during the middle of the school day and, if you’re lucky, you might be swept up by the beautiful sounds of inspirational rhythms being played by the Monomoy Jazz Band. Directed by Wayne Naus, a Harwich resident and professional musician who previously served as a faculty member at Berklee College of Music for 35 years, the jazz band has grown...

November sinks into the year like an old familiar log in mud. It’s a little unsteady and unpredictable but there’s something alluring about a little danger and darkness, so we take that wobbly step forward in spite of our apprehension.  Since the beginning of human time on earth we have tried to light up the dark, to see what was otherwise hidden. Back in the day, November’s shorter days and longer nights prob...

DENNIS — The recent screening of “Hello, Bookstore,” a documentary filmed in Lenox, Mass., brought back mixed memories for three Cape Cod small business owners who struggled to survive during the pandemic. “I was just thinking, god, that was awful,” Tom Deegan, owner of Mom and Pop’s Burgers in Chatham, said of the pandemic. “We did what we needed to do; we made a decision to keep (food service) outside, and w...

CHATHAM – After a successful inaugural season, the Cape Cod Shakespeare Festival in Chatham will return next summer, again presenting two of the Bard's plays in Kate Gould Park. The comedies “Much Ado About Nothing” and “As You Like It” will play in repertoire July 24 to Aug. 3 free of charge for audiences in the park. Produced by alumni of the Monomoy Theatre, the shows averaged about 300 people per night,...

     Fans of the Frying Pan Gallery in Wellfleet and the work of steel artist Steve Swain have something to cheer about. The gallery, which opened in a rehabbed 100-year-old oyster shack in 2009, has now opened a second location at 125 Route 6A in Orleans. Situated in the former Vec Surfboards location, the new gallery features the same great variety of original local art that has made Frying Pan Gallery a favor...

     Everyone’s favorite all-nighter is back.      On Nov. 18 and 19 Cape Cod Theatre Company/HJT’s 24 Hour Play Festival returns for another nonstop marathon of creativity and innovation. The heroic efforts of four playwrights, four directors and a cast of actors drawn at random from a hat will culminate in a must-see performance showcase for the public on Saturday, Nov. 19.      The 24 Hour Play Festival, no...

Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, and girl likes him, too. Soon Peter and Rita fall in love, he meets her parents and they plan a wedding. But just as the sign at the roller coaster says “ride at your own risk,” love can be a quite a ride. One never knows what twists and turns, what uphill and downhill consequences can happen when you commit to another. In the love story that’s “Prelude to a Kiss,” playwright Cr...

A few years back I decided to begin a gratitude journal, thinking that the act of writing down what I was grateful for daily would be a wonderful, even life-changing thing to do. I had a bunch of notebooks hanging around so one day I began. Three and a half years later I have several notebooks filled with all the things I’m grateful for. I write two sentences a day, noting two different things I’m thankful for. I...